Music For Farms will perform a concert entitled “An Agricultural Rite of Spring” at the Threefold Auditorium at 260 Hungry Hollow Road, Chestnut Ridge, NY on Friday, May 7, 2010 at 8pm. Tickets may be purchased at the door and are $20 ($15 for students, $10 for children). For more information, call 845-362-0207 or email events@rocklandfarm.org.

John McDowell and Emmanuel Vukovich, who practice music and farming side by side (McDowell at Camp Hill Farm in Pomona, NY; and Vukovich in Quebec, Canada), have formed an international initiative, Music for Farms, which works to revive and sustain local organic agriculture and farming communities through the arts. Julia MacLaine joins them for this special concert. The program, described below, includes the music of Bach and several original works in contemporary and classical idioms, such as their own composition based on the Parcifal legend. The trio’s creative arrangements reflect a weaving of eastern and western traditions, incorporating African drum rhythms. This concert will be a benefit for the Rockland Farm Alliance (RFA). The mission of the RFA is to facilitate local sustainable agriculture in Rockland County, New York.

The program for “An Agricultural Rite of Spring” will be drawn from the following selections:

Parcifal and Zazamanc, by John McDowell and Emmanuel Vukovich

F major, by John McDowell

Pachamama’s Catharsis, by Pedro Malpica

Swara Kakali (transcription of a work by Yehudi Menuhin and Ravi Shankar)

Solo violin works by Bach

Of a recent performance earlier in 2010, listener Toinette Lippe wrote to us “I could feel the earth stirring, seeds growing, birds soaring, and the wind in the trees –creation was moving through me–and I was quite wrung out by the end.”.

Here is an archive of information about earlier performances this year of Music for Farms.

May 2 – Novalis Hall, Angus, Ontario, Canada
May 6 – Bechstein Piano Centre, New York, NY
May 7 – Threefold Auditorium, Chestnut Ridge, NY
May 8 – St. John’s Church, Montreal, Canada

John McDowell and Emmanuel Vukovich. Photo by Janet Maya.

Cellist Julia MacLaine